Identical
by Fire-Playing Player
Summary: When I look in the mirror, it is her face I see. Her right is my left, double and all. My right is her left. We are exact opposites, Saya and me. Mirror-image; identical twins. Except I am fairer in appearance than her tan one and my eyes a sapphire blue while hers are a crimson red. ( Rated T for future chapters)
1. Chapter 1

Identical

_When I look in the mirror, it is her face I see. Her right is my left, double and all. My right is her left. We are exact opposites, Saya and me. Mirror-image; identical twins. Except I am fairer in appearance than her tan one and my eyes a sapphire blue while hers are a crimson red. _

_One egg, one sperm, one zygote divided, sharing one complete set of genetic markers. On the outside we are not the same, but on the inside I would like to believe were so. I think she is egg, so much like our mother it makes me want to scream. Then again, we never knew our mother, the mummy known as the First Saya, chiroptera queen. _

_I guess I am more like our father, although we've never known him either. We've both had father figures. Saya had Joel and another man, while I held onto Amshel, even though I knew all he saw me as was a test-subject. _

_One being split in two. How many souls? _

_Do twins begin in the womb? Or in a better place? _

_Did Saya and I get along in the womb before being discovered and used as guinea pigs for all those years? I'd like to think that. I always wanted to live with her to see what could have been. I never thanked her for giving me a name and setting me free all those years ago. But now I'm passing that because I wish to kill her as well. She doesn't understand my pain. _

_Locked away in a cold prison for fifty years, cut and examined as though I were an insect. And Amshel… he'd just come in there and do whatever he wanted to do to me. It's not as though I didn't have a choice. Sometimes I wish I could kill myself. I guess I've never told anyone that… _

_Alone. _

_I was always alone. Which is why I picked up singing when I was younger. It was my only answer towards the solitude I felt in my heart. _

_I dreamt of what it would be like to have a family of my own and when I got it… it was Saya who wanted to take it all away. I wasn't going to let that happen. I had come so far. Only to lose what I cherished most in the world. _

_This long battle… between us had to end. _

The battle continued on. The sisters were once again far from each other. Saya breathed heavily before getting serious. Both she and Diva's dresses had multiple cuts from the swords. One still hadn't managed to kill the other yet. Saya ripped the bottom part of her dress off. Diva stripped the wings on her costume off her, the sleeve of the dress trailed slowly down her left arm. The sisters eyed each other warily. Diva shifted her position as she prepared to attack. "Here we go," she murmured as her blood trailed down her sword. Saya coated her sword once more as well. Diva charged at her sister.

_Your name will be Diva! Diva the Princess with the beautiful singing voice. Now we can become friends! _

Suddenly, they stopped. Something had halted the two sisters from finishing each other off. Diva's eyes dimmed, she stared at Saya for a moment.

"_**I wanted to be free… just like you. I wanted to explore the world, know much, see much. I wanted friends… to go to school… do you think I enjoyed being dominated by Amshel my whole existence? You had it all, Saya. I didn't have a thing. Not even a family. But no matter how much I done, the pain, the killing; I was still empty on the inside. And no matter how much I tried to fill that whole it just kept eating away at me like a cancer." **_

"_**Diva…" **_

"_**But it's okay… because I don't think I'm afraid to die anymore. Because I…" **_

The brilliant white light blinded the two of them, followed by a piercing screech that made it feel as though bones were grinding against a chalkboard. Everything warped; vanished and became nothing in that instant. That had been around the same time Amshel cried in anguish.

Oblivion.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter One**

_This place is not where I belong. I don't where this place is. What's going to happen to us? Am I... dead? _ _My babies... Saya..._

That same blinding white heat that had encased them was still glowing like sonar power. It was as bright as the sun. It took moments for it to dim down just enough so that the sisters could open their eyes again and take in their new surroundings. There wasn't any one thing solid around them. Were they floating? It felt as though there was something keeping them afloat.

Was this some sort of alternate dimension? The white surrounding them turned to a golden honey with hints of an another color. There was humming sound that eased them and vanished just as fast.

"What is this place?" asked Saya.

"I think it's some sort of dream-scape. Whatever it is... we don't belong here," said Diva with indifference. She grew a panicked appearance.

"Nathan... my babies... where are they?!" she yelled, waling around. This place didn't lead to anywhere. She felt trapped. Just as she had in the tower in the Zoo. But that was so long ago, yet she couldn't forget it.

"Diva, I'm sure they're fine..."

"How can you be so sure, big sister?" Diva glared at her.

"I don't know... but this place... where ever it is..."

Saya and Diva turned to each other. Diva paced back and forth, then in circles. She wrapped her arms around herself, then held her arms to her chest.

_Diva... _

"Have to get out of here... have to get out of here. I... I..."

Saya wondered if she should comfort her. Behind those eyes in her sister's mind, a millions thoughts were overwhelming her. She was shaking and was paler than she was suppose to. She was pulling at her hair, pulling at her dress, and mumbling incoherently. She found herself reaching out to Diva, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She felt the muscles in Diva's back stiffen like a rod. Diva glimpsed at that hand and backpedaled.

"Don't touch me! Don't you ever touch me!" she roared, eyes a sapphire blue.

"I just wanted—to ..."

"To what?! Comfort me?! I don't need comforting, the hell with that! It's too late for all that. That meaning was lost to me when Joel locked me in that tower. For fifty years I knew no human contact, no love, no shelter, nothing to keep me sane. And now you're trying to console me... don't make me laugh."

"Diva..."

"We're suppose to kill each other... we're enemies. The only thing that makes us sisters is that we were borne of the same mother. It's not fair... why were you loved... why were you treated as a human being while I only knew... the confines of a lab with no escape. Why?"

Her throat grew thick with emotion. It was so unusual of her to display emotion, to show any kind of weakness.

"All I ever wanted was to have a family of my own. To have someone to love and love me back. I knew everything there was to know about life through Amshel... but he never taught me how to love. So when I found out we were sisters... I guess I was happy... that is until I learned we were meant to kill each other. That's the way it's been for years! Killing, killing and more killing.

"It's a sad fact of life. You say humans are good people... well... you're right. I lied earlier when I said humans wouldn't be able to understand us and how we wouldn't be able to understand them. After I killed Riku, I had looked into his memories of his family life. Love and acceptance was possible, so why couldn't I experience it first hand?"

Diva stared at the palm of her hand, which had bled from the grip of her nails gripping too hard. She gave a sardonic grin.

"I'm already dead. But when I saw my baby daughters... I was born again. I actually felt alive. Those girls are my heart... the only good thing that has ever happened to me. Why am I telling you this, it's not as though you care. We don't belong here... _**I don't belong here**_."

"_That's not true... you belong **here**_..._Saya and Diva." _

The voice without a body startled them. It sounded so close that Diva was looking in all directions even though common knowledge told her no one was there except for them.

"Who's there?"

"_I am here. I have never truly left... do you really not know who I am?" _

"Considering you're a ghost of a voice, not really," Diva added in a deadpan tone.

"Show yourself, please."

Right there to Saya's far right, was a female of average height dressed in a full length, strapless gown. Her knee-long dark hair was styled over her right shoulder, curling slightly. She was fair and beautiful, her blue eyes filled with warmth. Her hand was placed lightly on her chest where her heart was. She smiled radiantly, inching closer and closer.

She didn't appear to be intimidating at all.

"_You belong here... **here in my heart... Saya and Diva.**_"

"How do you know our names?" Diva demanded, eyes still threatening. However, her eyes dimmed. She gasped alongside Saya. Up close this woman was not only beautiful but there was something familiar about her.

She held a striking resemblance to Diva.

_She... she has my face.. the same face as me... her voice is... no way she couldn't be. _

"Have you two figured it out yet?" asked the woman.

"You can't be..." Saya breathed. "This has to be an illusion. Are we dreaming?"

"This feels to real," said Diva with a shaky voice.

The woman glimpsed between them, admiring them dreamily.

"Who am I? Let me guess, it's all very confusing. When I'm overwhelmed I tend to cry until I have someone comfort me. I'm a crybaby and a glutton, but who isn't? I also tend to be a bit stubborn. So to ease myself, I play music. Or sing it in the least. What about you two? I hope you two didn't get anything bad out it... so... I..."

She laughed.

Saya's lips quivered, Diva's eyes watered.

"That's right... I'm your...mo-"

She felt the full impact of their bodies cushioning into her own. Their arms wrapped tightly around her like a vise. She accepted the weight of them both, all the while stroking their hair soothingly.

"I can't believe it's you... it's you... I always imagined what you would look like..."

"Me, too. She's... she's our... _**mummy.**_"

_Mother... I can finally say it. She feels so nice... she smells... like lavender. _

" ' Mummy ', huh? You two really are my daughters. Feels wonderful to actually hold in my arms like this."

The three women sank down in sitting positions, still hugging each other without the intention of letting go.

Diva put her ear on her mother's chest. _She breathes... her heart beats... I can feel all of these things. _

She eased out of her mother's embrace just as Saya did.

"My beautiful girls... so gorgeous..."

"Um... mom... what's your real name?"

"Saya, silly. Just as you are _**Saya**_. Pretty ironic. Actually, my name is Onigen."

Saya and Diva continued to gape.

"What's wrong? Do I have something on my face?"

"No, no... it's just that... you're stunning. Nathan told me you were beautiful but... to see you up close like this..." Diva's lips thinned, she blushed.

"Nathan? Oh, he's alive? Good... still the same flamboyancy he displayed in our youth I hope." Onigen giggled, swishing her dark hair back.

"You have no idea."

Diva blurted, "There's so much I want to ask you. Now that you're here before our eyes! Like, where were you were born, your favorite color, your hobbies... everything."

_I've never seen her this... cheery. This is perhaps the one and only one time she's actually had a full conversation, even though she's never interacted with anyone her own age... _

Saya joined in.

"I wish to know more about you, too."

"So many questions... um... I guess I could. What would you'd like to know first?"

Diva and Saya hesitated.

_I'm not even sure. What do I say? She's my mother... and I want to know everything about her so I feel as though I've known her my whole life. Did I inherit anything special from this woman before she died... _

And then it dawned on her. How did their mother die? It was a topic that gone unexplored for so many years now. Nathan had told her that the mummified corpse that was their mother had been pretty ancient even before Joel discovered her in Iceland. Her face had been destroyed... and she had been in her chiropteran form.

So what really happened to Onigen? And why all of sudden... why now was she making an appearance after the duel that would have made one of the queens—Saya and Diva—victor?

Onigen closed her eyes, thinking about a place from long ago.

"Well... I know you two have endured much and suffered much... both of you have experienced the pain of the world. Then again there's only what you give to the world and what the world takes from you. Destiny sucks."

She laughed bitterly.

"Mom?"

"Yes?"

"I... do you think you could start from the very, _very_ beginning? I'd like to know further about our species as a whole. Not just observations and research documented into a diary."

Onigen nodded.

"Diary?" she questioned.

"Joel's diary," Diva told her flatly.

"You read Joel's diary?"

Diva rolled her eyes at her twin.

"Of course I did. Saya, do you honestly think during my years with my chevaliers I'd allow something like that to slip by? I didn't just sit and command people to do my bidding for me. For example... I knew everyone of Amshel's schemes and ideas. He thought I was the dumb test subject, his **precious treasure**. Nathan and I did so many things behind his back.

"I also learned how to drive, crack codes,... but that's not important. Our mother is the main center of attention now."

"So, all these years... you knew?"

"Pretty much. Had to get some sort of education."

The three queens sat in their thoughts, going through past experiences. Onigen clapped her hands together.

"Alright. I guess I'll start from the beginning."

"Whatever assumptions this... Joel person assumed about Chiropterans, the new name for us I guess, there are probably some things missing."

"Like what?"

"Tell me, what hierarchy did he put you two in?"

"Queens," answered Diva. "Then we have Chevaliers and then there's the Schiff."

"Interesting. I guess the term Queen suits us... after all, there are two born within every generation. We've been around a long time... with a cursed blood soaked past. For years within every generation of Queens, they have killed each other and sometimes the offspring from one of the two Queens. Chevaliers have killed each other as well as a means to avenge the Queen who created them or simply because. The very First Queens were born in 69 BC. No doubt the mummy they were born from was in the same state as I was.

"It was in Egypt. They were named Syria and Lia. They were raised by a woman who could not have children of her own and gladly accepted them with open arms. Syria and Lia grew up constantly competing each other, honing their skills. Despite being so equally matched in skills, they both got stronger and stronger until at just the ages of ten they awakened " a special power" that immediately gave them position as leaders in their village. No one suspected that they were non-human. First of all, they were beautiful, powerful, and intelligent beings there. Soon the village was evolving because of their guidance."

Onigen paused.

"Then people started noticing that these two women ceased to age once they hit sixteen. After only a few years, they didn't know what to think of it. What were they to do? These women were strong and without them their foundation would collapse. But Syria grew bored with tending to the needs of humans. While her sister Lia wanted peace, Syria sought destruction and bloodshed.

"If there was any sign of happiness she would destroy it. She felt herself ever more superior than serving to the needs of humans whom she hated despite that they never did her ill harm.

"One night, the village sank to chaos. There was blood and fire. Syria had murdered over three thousand people. Even the children. This was a year after Cleopatra VII Philopator died. Lia sought vengeance. However, Syria had escaped with her first Chevalier and after over one hundred years, Syria had had ten of them at her disposal."

"Ten Chevaliers? That's crazy."

"Syria was insane... in fact, I believe she had long lost her sanity. No one knows really why she was the way she was. Maybe it was just part of her DNA or the fact she was a superior breed of species. Fifty more years would pass until Lia was able to kill her sister. At the time, Syria had had children of her own but only for selfish reasons. Lia killed them as well, and in turn her children were threatened to be sacrificed as well.

"You can imagine all of the bloodshed that ensued all those years. Lia's children produced Queens, then they produced Queens... on and on and on. And every generation they killed each other."

"That's awful.." Saya moaned.

"It was. Our numbers were dying severely. But I suppose that was for the better. And then... a new species had emerged in the year 1115. Two male twins who belonged to a noble family... and when Lia's descendants mated with them a new power emerged. Those two men were known as the first Kings. Like Queens, they were the first on top and were born in pairs."

"Would that make Kings and Queens siblings in some way since they're all Chiroptera?"

"No."

Onigen shook her head. "They were entirely different from us. They were other vampires, too. And they soon began mating. I was born in 1233 in London, but moved to Germany with my sister and parents. I feared that history was just going to repeat itself all over again... yet somehow, my parents sought something. They wanted us to live in a community and be as a whole family. It began with my mom after she killed her sister and her sister's children. She married into that clan."

"What clan?"

Onigen shuddered.

"Do you remember when I said... there was a special power awakened when the Queens mated with the Kings?"

Saya and Diva nodded.

"Growing up... by then, there were very few of us left... in that clan. The others were human. I learned that I possessed a power called a kekkei genkai. I wasn't alone..."

"What was it? What was the clan?"

"They call themselves the Uchiha clan... my father had often warned me to stay away from that clan because they were cursed. I didn't think anything of it. I just thought he hated humans just as my sister did. My mother and I never really despised. My father always managed to come up with some story about how humans hunted vampires and chiropterans to extinction because of our differences. I wasn't going to waste my life hating."

Diva cleared her throat. "Mother, you mentioned a kekkei genkai?"

"I'll get to that soon. Against my father's wishes... I went ahead and met an Uchiha."

Onigen was blushing.

"You could say... that's how I met your father."

"Dad was an Uchiha?"

Onigen nodded. "You should have seen him when we first met! He was just... so temperamental and competitive. We didn't get off to a good start when we met... I hated him because he was so full of himself."

"I guess we know where Saya gets that from," Diva teased, giggling.

"Diva..." Saya blushed.

"Well, you two may not know it but you're both kind of like your father in a way. Let's see... I was nine or ten when I met him... he became my greatest love... the only man I ever loved

Diva and Saya leaned in, taking in their mother's every word.

"What's his name? Our father..?"

"His name..."

…

…

…

"_**Uchiha Madara..." **_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three **

"Mother, what you're saying isn't making sense," said Diva.

"Kekkai genkai… Uchiha clan… what are all of these things you talk about? This sounds like another world far beyond our knowledge."

"I know Diva. I wouldn't lie to you girls like this. It would make so much more sense if you had someone explain it to you… your father anyway… or maybe even Nathan."

"Mom, how did you meet dad?" asked Diva.

Onigen blushed.

"Well, um… oh dear…" she laughed. "Your father and I met at a lake. I remember it as though it were yesterday."

_**Germany, 1243 **_

_A stone skipped across the clear blue face of the waters, skimming, and then sinking to the bottom. Another stone followed suite and sank to the bottom just as fast. The young boy throwing the stones grew frustrated. _

"_This time… I'll make sure it reaches the other side of the shore." _

_He tossed the stone in the palm of his hand, pulled his arm back and threw it. This attempt was as much unsuccessful as the first and second attempts. His eyes glowed red from frustration. Someone giggled behind him. He paused just as he was about to pick up another stone; his eyes glanced over his shoulder. _

"_You have to be gentle… that's the trick silly boy." _

_A young girl around the same age as he was. She was a pretty girl with long dark hair, fair skin, and blue eyes. She wore a simple dress with sandals. Her long hair had been gathered into pigtails on either side of her head. _

_He glared at her. He hadn't seen her around before and the fact that she was even here irked him. He gripped the stone he held. _

"_Duh… like I already know that. I can reach the other side if I actually tried to… anyway, who the hell are you?" _

_The girl smiled, standing on her toes. "Hmm… well, you could say that I'm like you, a chiroptera, though I am a female and you're a male. I'm a Queen…" _

_She trailed off, staring at him. He had to be older than her. He wore simple robing and sandals, had dark eyes and dark spiky hair that was somewhat short. _

"_Answer my question! Who the hell are you?!" _

"_You can call me Onigen. Probably best if I don't give you my surname." _

_He raised an eyebrow at her name. It was odd for a female, especially a little girl. _

"_Huh…Onigen… take a close look! 'Cuz this time it'll reach!" _

_He gripped the stone harder, giving it a swift toss. _

His throwing motion is similar to that of throwing shuriken… no doubt he's a trained expert…

_The stone made three plops before sinking to the bottom much to his dismay. Onigen giggled. He pivoted at her, pointing accusing fingers. _

"_**Idiot! You stood behind me on purpose didn't you?! You think just because you're a pretty face you could distract me, it's so obvious! I can't even take a leak if someone is standing behind near me! That's how aware I am of my surroundings!" **_

_Onigen's lower lip quivered. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean it…" She sat on the ground, wiping her eyes. _

_The boy calmed down, laughing nervously. He hoped she wasn't really going to cry. _

"_Uhhh, relax… no need to get emotional and junk… I mean… I kinda have this bad habit of making excuses when I—I …" _

"_No need to explain… you just have a fragile ego…" _

_His face contorted in anger. _

"_Why you… I can't tell if you're sensitive or just a smartass…" he growled. _

_She hopped back to her feet. _

"_One thing is for sure, my mom has better aim than you when it comes to rock skipping." _

"_Keep that up and we'll see how well _**you**_ skip across this creek!" _

"_I'd like to see you try. Didn't your daddy tell you not to harm girls?"_

_He balled his fists at her snide tone. "Man, you're pissin' me off! Leave. Now." _

_Onigen whipped her pigtails. She told him, "Fine. If you say so…" _

_She felt him tug the back of her dress. _

"_Hold on!" he exclaimed. _

"_Stop being indecisive… should I stay or should I go?" _

_He turned her around so that she wasn't facing the creek anymore. A body suddenly floated down, reeking of blood so potent no doubt she would smell it soon. He made her close her eyes as he leaped, waling over the water. _

"_Hey… what are you? I just heard you walk on the water. Why can't I see?"_

_He reached down, feeling the puncture wounds on the neck of the male. _

"_Chiroptera… it's best if I head home…" _

"_Chiroptera?" she said softly, eyes still closed and still not facing the creek. _

_He came back onto the bank, heading towards her. "You're a chiroptera?" she whispered. _

"_I'm Madara… not giving my surname to a stranger. It's a basic code of conduct for non-humans, especially chiropterans."_

"_I figured you were one. Can I open my eyes now?" _

"_Not yet…" _

_Onigen walked side by side with Madara. They were supposed to be heading home, yet she found herself staying with him longer than she should have. Her parents had warned about being off on her own, even if with children her own age. They were frightened humans would get to her, find out what she was, and use her as a test-subject. _

_Children chiroptera were innocent when it came to learning about humans. Parents of the vampiric children told them humans were foolish, mindless creatures; rats who walked upright who slowly ended their lives due to the reckless wars opposed on one another. _

_Onigen's father hated humans. His parents were hacked to pieces by humans when he was a child. And his hatred grew for them more and more. Her mother was the complete opposite. She liked humans having been raised by a couple as a child because her sister and parents were dead. Onigen had wondered where her species originated from and why they had such a blood-soaked past. _

_There weren't many of them left, especially the Kings of their species. The fact she met Madara was a blessing. _

"_Madara…?" _

"_Yeah?" _

"_There was a dead body in the creek, right?"_

_He remained silent until he finally replied, "Yeah. I didn't want you to see it. His blood was gone from his body…" _

"_Madara… do you have siblings?"_

_He nodded. "Why?" _

"_Nothing… it's nothing." _

"_C'mon, I'm all ears. Don't be shy." _

"_Don't worry about…" _

"_We'll be here all day…" _

"_No, really…" _

"_**Damn you! I'm trying to be considerate and understanding here! So hurry up and spill your guts!" **_

"_Well... you know how Kings and Queens are born with the primal theory and when they're old enough want to kill each other? I'm worried that my sister might kill me or me her. And I… it's been that way for years. Is it the same for you? Madara?" _

_He stopped. He headed back to the creek, she followed him. _

_He picked up a stone. _

"_I have four brothers… or rather had four brothers. They started killing each other as soon as they were my age. That's what it means to be a King. There can only be one on top or none at all. Death is always knocking on our door… especially you Queens. I don't know how… but maybe if we all just made an alliance… to avoid dwindling our species population… but that's just wishful thinking. I don't know… whether it's a part of our DNA to kill each other once we're outside of the womb…" _

_He swung his arm that held the rock in his hand. It made a beeline skim over the waters. _

"_Do you think that we'll ever be able to break the cycle? Of Chiropterans killing other Chiropterans and humans killing us as well?" she asked, smiling when the stone plopped and briskly jumped to the other side. Madara put a hand on his hip. _

"_You're not the only one… who wishes to make it on the other side of our bloodshed." _

_Onigen studied his face. _

"_You'll be an excellent leader someday, Madara-kun. A real legend." _

_She inched closer to him, kissing his cheek without the slightest hint of shyness. Madara reeled back and fell on his bottom. He cursed when a rock wedged into his back. _

"_**Don't do that again!" **_

"_It was only a kiss…" _

"_**Kissing leads to other things!" **_

"Our personalities were like day and night… yet somehow your father and I were able to understand each other. I don't know, maybe because we met up at that creek that day. We made excuses just to see each other. It surprised me because I half-expected him to find a boy to hone his skills against rather than a female. But since I wasn't human and a female; he made do."

"You kissed dad? That's bold. And he reacted as though you'd stung him?"

"Your father didn't have much experience with the opposite sex, Saya. I was the first and only girl who did that to him…"

Onigen sighed happily. "He made my days worthwhile... every day we met up by the creek… we fought, we talked, we laughed; but seeing him was a holiday in itself."

_Madara passed Onigen a cup of water. _

"_Never wavering… if we do that, adults won't ignore us, especially our parents." _

"_Yeah, they won't follow baby vampires like us. We'll start by focusing our training on our weak points… though I don't have any weak points per se…" Madara bounded off the huge boulder they were sitting on. _

_She heard a tinkling of water into a steady stream, and then abruptly stops. Onigen leaned over to where he was peeing, a playful tease curving her lips. _

"_You really can't drain your-" _

"_**I told you I'm really sensitive to my surroundings!" **__he fired back at her. _

"_Looks like you have __**one**__ weak point…" _

"_**Say another word and you'll be swimming in my urine!" **_

"_**That's disgusting!" **_

_They started laughing until they couldn't breathe. Madara blushed when she scooted over to him, her ponytail tickling his ear. She smelled good, too. She always seemed to be able to look nice without trying. She wasn't a girly=girl like most, but she wasn't quite tomboyish either. _

"_Hey, I want to show you something Onigen." _

"_Like what?" _

_He reached out his hand. She took it. They vanished together, gathering atop a flat head of rock overlooking the forest. _

"_It's beautiful up here. It's a view." _

"_I know for sure I got the superior vision." _

"_I have the superior vision, too." She boasted. _

"_Feel like having a contest?" _

"_Are you that confident in your eyes?"_

"_Bring it on." _

_At the same time they said, "After all, I have the Shar-" _

_Both stopped midsentence. _

"_Nothing… nothing." _

"_Yeah, same here." _

_There was a pregnant pause between them. Onigen played with her pigtails, glimpsing at Madara from time to time. _

"_What good is the… if I was really elite I could have protected my brothers from killing each other with their blood. What good is… what good is…"_

_Onigen remembered him obscuring her view from the corpse in the creek. _

_She cleared her voice. _

"_All of your brothers are gone?"_

_"I've got one younger brother… I'm going to protect him at all costs!" _

"_Madara…" she gently placed a hand over his, squeezing it. _

"_Someday, the cycle will be broken. I can see it, no bloodshed… a place where humans and chiropterans can exist, and go to school and learn much and see much. Someday I'm going to have a family… my husband will be noble, kind, brave, elite… my child—boy or girl—will live to never know the horrors of the battlefield…" _

"_Heh… I don't know if you're a visionary or insane. You're talking about kids already? I hope… ugh…" _

_The idea of her with another male made him slightly envious. _

"_Um… never mind. I'll be able to protect my brother…" _

_He squeezed Onigen's hand much to her delight. She opened her mouth, but no words came out. Instead a melody that vibrated through the air, echoing. She closed her eyes, placing her other hand on her chest and continued to sing. _

_Madara became transfixed. He didn't know what it was, but he felt as though he were under a spell. It resounded in his mind. _

_When she stopped he whistled in approval. _

"_You have a nice pair of lungs there." _

"_Thank you…" _

Meanwhile on the battlefield, Madara was struck by horror. He couldn't move because he felt a familiar chakra he knew too well. Even Hashirama didn't seem to interest him at that moment. It was the same chakra he made himself memorize and never forget. 

_This chakra… it couldn't be… __**Onigen…?! **_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four **

This perplexed him exceedingly. His beautiful, kind, intelligent wife was nearby. But how was that possible? She had been dead for so long and he had mourned even now. Floods of memories that he thought he had long suppressed rose from the surface and shook him. He saw himself as a child with Onigen, their first confrontation and argument at the creek. They had not become rivals, but great friends. Their first meeting had been cut short by the discovery of a drained human body, the two would later meet again and it would be revealed they were both chiroptera.

They'd discussed the prospect of peace for chiropterans and humans, though he didn't much care for them. As they grew older, his feelings for her increased and they trained by the riverbank and discussed the future. Eventually, his feelings had manifested into love. She'd become his heart. Anything that was worthy in him began with her.

When she died, along with their children in her womb; his heart shriveled and turned to dust.

But what was this he was feeling?

_Onigen… _

_Onigen skipped home, her cheeks tinged with red. Her mother greeted her along with her sister. _

"_We need to talk, Onigen," her father told her his arms crossed over his broad chest. _

"_I know you're hanging out with that boy…" _

"_Father, how do you…" _

"_I had your sister track you. You've been spending a lot of time outside of the village. We didn't know what was wrong… I thought you'd begun hanging out with humans." _

_Onigen folded her hands in her lap. Her father was angry with her. She slumped, wishing that all of the attention was not focused on her. She had had a great day today and she would hate to have not to see Madara again. That would kill her. She wished her father weren't so strict, but it was only because he feared for her life. He couldn't lose her or her sister. Not to mention her mother. _

"_Please don't be upset, father. You'd really like him if you got to know him. He's not bad. Well, he may have a temper—but …" _

"_I'm not upset, Onigen. In fact … I gathered intel on that young man… he's from the Uchiha clan, a chiroptera King. He's already killed several human adults from another family. To be skilled at that young age… no doubt he's a prodigy… _

I figured as much… _she thought. _

"_Judging from that expression you didn't know he was from our clan, eh?" _

"_No idea… father. I don't have to stop seeing him do?" _

_She bit her lip, a bad habit. _

"_No. You can see him as much as you like. It changes everything now that I know he's not a human. You almost had me worried there, Onigen. Does it bother you he's killed before?" _

_Onigen shook her head. "My feelings for him are still the same, father. I don't want him hurt by me, you, or anyone else. He's… I like him." _

_Her father's eyebrows disappeared to his hairline. He grinned at his daughter, nodding in approval. _

"_I like him, too. And I'm proud you found an Uchiha as well. You make me proud. Though he may know you are from the Uchiha clan, too. So don't play dumb with him in order to pry more sensitive information from him. In fact, your sister and I might just tail you." _

_Onigen deadpanned. _

"_Ugh… dad, I don't think so…" _

_Onigen and Madara faced each other over the large body of water of the creek. She held the stone to her chest, nervous. _

"_From now on… we'll skip rocks as a formal way of greeting one another." _

"_Yes." _

_He reached inside his robe, producing a stone. At the same time their rocks crossed each other and they snatched the other's rock. Both turned the bottoms up and chuckled. _

"_I'll catch up with you later…" _

"_I just remembered, Onigen, I have an errand." _

_Their respective families burst out of nowhere. Onigen and Madara groaned shook their heads, groaning. _

"_Sister! We're here!" _

"_Hello, Saroya!" _

"_Hey, Izuna!" _

"_This is a dream… this is a dream…" Onigen chanted. _

"_A really fucking bad dream…" _

"_Aww, your brother is cute." Onigen poked Madara in the ribs. _

_Madara stifled a retort. Izuna ran over to his brother and Onigen. _

"_Is she your girlfriend?"_

"_No. Just a friend…" _

_Izuna studied her. "She's pretty."_

"_Why, thank you. You don't have a problem in the looks department either Izuna. And you're much more polite than your brother." _

"_**Where the hell did that come from!?" **_

_Their fathers introduced each other respectively, ignoring the fact that they were embarrassing their children. Madara was half-hoping that maybe he had gotten into some trouble by being with Onigen, yet their fathers approved of the relationship. _

"_Your father is handsome, too. Looks just like you." _

_Saroya, Onigen's sister playfully teased Izuna. _

"_Hey, big bro, are two gonna bump?"_

_Madara's face flushed scarlet, so did Onigen's. _

"_How old are you?" _

"_Father, big brother is blushing! I think he's find his—ow! What was that?!" _

"_Don't hit your brother, Madara." _

_Onigen wagged her finger at him, touching Izuna's face. _

"_He's precious cargo." _

"So, your families got along pretty well?"

Onigen nodded.

"When did you marry dad?"

Onigen recalled the day her father walked her down the aisle.

"I was… fifty-years old in the body of a sixteen-year old. Your father was so handsome… Izuna was the best man… there wasn't a dry eye in the place. I was in love… and it wasn't soon that you two were conceived…"

"I don't think I want to hear the time and conception of our birth, mom," Diva said, shuddering.

"Years later, when I had woken from my hibernation… I met Nathan. He struck me because he not only did he not come from a clan, but… I don't know. I liked him right away. And then came the day I told your father I was pregnant. He caressed my stomach, fell to his knees, and cried. "It was the first time I'd seen him so vulnerable. And I was… happy that he was crying because I knew that he'd be a wonderful father…"

Diva gasped at her mother's darkened expression, her eyes averting from her daughters quickly.

"But it was too good… to be true… I never even had the chance to hold either of you in my arms… I… he possessed tremendous love and compassion for me and Izuna, and the both of even though you weren't born. I couldn't think of a better man to marry. "I wish I hadn't died and left you two alone to suffer… your father and I loved you and couldn't wait to hold and kiss you and guide you as parents should. My untimely death alongside Izuna… corrupted your father… I only wish…"

Onigen tried to control the thickness of her emotions.

"If you wish to know everything… please… talk to your father."

Diva's eyes stung. She blinked rapidly, but the tears overwhelmed her and pooled out into droplets.

_What is this? Tears? I've never cried like this… I haven't cried at all. This feeling… love from a parent… knowing that I was loved before becoming a guinea pig… that I had a mother and father like these… and Saya… my daughters… _

When Diva reopened her eyes, they glowed crimson. She saw a network channel that was peculiar to her inside of her mother.

"Diva… your eyes…?!"

"She's probably seeing chakra right now… eventually, I knew those eyes would appear. And look… you've achieved the Mangekyō Sharingan."

Onigen stood.

"Before I died… I wanted your father to protect the world we envisioned and now that world is almost at an end. I want the both of you… please… you're needed elsewhere. Push aside the bitter feud now. Work together anew for all of those who couldn't, for the blood, sweat, and tears… _**Uchiha Saya and Uchiha Diva!**_"

The Mangekyō Sharingan of both Queens illuminated, burning.

Onigen ripped a hole in front of her, shocking her daughters. The whole revealed another world to them. It was in the midst of war. Hundreds of thousands of people their mother called shinobi. The skies dark, the moon shining an eerie silver.

They disappeared silently, the dreamscape shattered into oblivion.

_Falling… I'm falling… _

As they went over the edge and took that first grasp of antigravity, the irony of the jump wasn't lost. Diva had spent so much time wishing for death to come. But she had had Nathan there, the only one who treated her like a person rather than a Queen. He had an idea of the loneliness because he had loved her mother, not because she was his friend, but because she was there. She'd been his sun.

No doubt her father had felt the same way.

Calming her mind, she dematerialized herself from the free fall—one moment gravity had a death grip on her; the next she was nothing but a flicker and took form on the land.

Onigen stood across from them.

"Fancy seeing you ladies," the distinct voice belonged to Nathan. His attire was different.

It was then that Diva and Saya noticed that their clothes, the ripped ones from their earlier battle, were replaced by the proper attire of the ninja. Underneath her flak jacket, Diva wore a skintight navy blue bodysuit with a bandage around the upper left thigh, as well as having her own ninja tool kit. Her mother and sister donned the same attire, albeit Onigen's bodysuit was black while Saya's was maroon.

Nathan wore the same flak jacket associated with the village, as well as navy pants, a shirt, and fingerless gloves.

"Nathan… where are…"

"The babies are safe. I assure you. See?"

He turned slightly so that they could see a brown backpack with the cocoons. encased.

"Amshel is dead… he wasn't allowed to cross over here… as for Haji and the others they're fine as well. Isn't that right?"

Haji appeared behind them, solemn and silent as usual.

"Madara…" Onigen clenched her fists.

Saya's stomach lurched. There was a hideous, grotesque beast emerging.

From a distance, Madara took awareness of the presence of his wife.

"Onigen…"

"Madara…"


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five **

_You'll never have a normal life. You'll never be free. You're only my experiment to satisfy my endless spare time and curiosity. You'll never know happens, only isolation, pain, despair, apathy, and loneliness. There is no such thing as happiness. _

_Amshel holds many of your pieces. You're not his treasure; you're not even a princess. You can't hate your sister, Saya, forever. In the end it will only destroy you. It's what your mother would have wanted. _

Diva ignored the first voice in her head. Her attention was riveted on a large, humanoid blue ghost from an unknown origin. She didn't know what the thing was yet her father was inside of it. It appeared that this technique or however he was controlling it; was protecting him.

"Nathan?"

"Hm?"

"Is… that my father?"

He nodded. "Uchiha Madara in the flesh. Everyone thinks he revived using Edo Tensei, when in truth he's been in a coffin since your mother died. He went into hibernation because of the protective spell I put on it… unfortunately, someone dug him back up."

"Edo Tensei?"

"A forbidden technique that brings someone back from the dead. People who have been revived through Edo Tensei have grey sclera and cracked skin… your father is only making it appear as though he has been reincarnated."

"I see."

_That's my father. _

A swirl of color surrounded Onigen. It was a shroud attempting to gain form. The same gigantic, humanoid being protecting Madara was also now in the beginning stages of protecting her.

"The Susanoo… one of the abilities of the Sharingan… oh, goody it's taking form."

Onigen's Susanoo is magenta in color. Like Madara's, her Susanoo is able to manifest a complete body, including a lower half and legs. However, it was also much more feminine in appearance having a normal face with long fiery dreadlocks; and possesses two heads as well. The second face has elongated canine teeth in its lower jaw bracket, two tusks growing from said jaw, as well as a horn in the middle of its forehead.

It has four arms with the first two wielding swords, the others possessing curved daggers. Finally, its armor took on a beak-like shape with teeth, giving it a menacing appearance.

Diva backed away. That thing was scary. Was it possible that she and Saya were capable of summoning those things?

Diva also noticed the phantom outlines of what seemed to be a fox.

_**Onigen… it is you? **_

"Who the hell is that?" Sasuke surveyed the newcomers with disdain. This was a Susanoo he'd yet to see. And the person wielding it was female. He had to do a double take before he realized that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. A woman of average height wearing the Konohagakure attire, but he'd never seen her before in his life even after leaving Konoha.

There were also two more females who looked exactly like her. All of them had to be sisters in some way. But there was something else about them that he couldn't quite displace. There was something _foreign_ about her…

Hashirama frowned deeply.

_He's distracted by something. But what is it? This is unlike him. _

Hashirama then whipped about to see the other Susanoo, this one darker than Madara's. Examining closer, Hashirama saw the lines from Madara's face disappear.

Just as Madara was about to open his mouth, a female voice interrupted him.

"Long time no see, Madara."

"Onigen… it is you…"

As he stepped forward, taking his Susanoo with him; he felt uneasy at the quest he was taking. Soon enough, a story was unfolding before his eyes. Him with Onigen, as children. Talking and training, and the kiss she had given him on his cheek. Then there was their wedding. He was so happy, incandescently so, his love shone like the North Star.

There were other scenes too, drifting through the years. From laughter, to arguments, to comfort. And then another scene. Onigen was staring into space. When Madara walked in, her lips were pursed and her eyes locked on her husband.

When she spoke, her expression was hesitant. She finished and his jaw went lax. His eyes blinked repeatedly, open and shut, open and shut, open and shut…

When he finally moved, it was with the grace of someone who had broken every bone in his body. He lurched across the distance that separated them and fell to his knees before his wife. Reaching up with shaking hands, he touched her lower belly as tears watered his eyes.

He didn't say a word.

Just gathered his mate to him, his strong arms enveloping her waist, his wet cheek coming to rest on her womb. Above him Onigen began to laugh and cry at the same time. His brother Izuna had walked in on the moment and when he learned the news, congratulated both of them.

When she died, along with his brother and his unborn children; he'd screamed. He took himself somewhere. And cried for weeks in the wilderness.

"Madara… your face has become lined with hatred. What's happened to you?"

"Onigen… you're… not Edo Tensei?"

She shook her head. "Afraid not. And neither are you, obviously… I see that the Ten-Tails is no longer dormant."

"Hello, there."

Diva startled Naruto and Minato. She smiled to show that she meant no harm. Her eyes were back to their normal blue.

_She's fast… _

"Who are you?" asked Naruto. Diva smiled at him, noting his resemblance to the man who no doubt had to be his father. His arm was missing and Diva actually felt pity for him.

"Right now… I'm an ally… you can call me Diva."

She held both hands up, approaching Minato. He wasn't afraid of her like the others. In case she did attack him, he'd just outrun her. How she knew that she wasn't even sure. But she was going to help these humans.

"If big sister can change… so can I."

Gently pressing onto the hole of what used to be his arm, her hands glowed an electric blue. Slowly, a new limb emerged like a budding plant. She dropped her hands, admiring the work.

"There."

The men gaped at her as though she had done the world's most amazing trick.

"I know what you're thinking… I'll explain later… right now my wish is to help you all. Scary, the idea of me protecting the ones who caused me such suffering all those years ago."

_For my daughters… _

Diva felt the eyes of a young man boring into the back of her head. She faced him, which startled him. Why? She wasn't the least intimidating. Maybe she'd get to know him better.

Onigen put herself between Hashirama and Madara.

"Though we are immortal and our actions matter not, you will regret what you've done here."

"Onigen…" Madara said her name in anguish. Seeing your deceased wife was not an everyday event. People just didn't come back from the dead because the dead never get second chances. But she wasn't a genjutsu. So why…

_He's in pain… he knows this woman… but what's his connection to her? _

Onigen's Mangekyō Sharingan burned hot. She could feel the rise of the Ten-Tails, berating herself for being too late.

_**She has the Mangekyō Sharingan?! A female?! **_

"It's time I put an end to this…" __


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six **

Madara's muscles were knotted, his expression strained, but he remained unmoving. Onigen's presence clearly had him under her thrall. It was as though the fierce desire and protectiveness he'd felt for her all those years multiplied exponentially.

Then injected straight into his heart. She was ablaze with pure beauty; then again she had always been beautiful to him.

"Madara… I must kill him."

She was referring to Obito.

"I will not let him harm you."

"And you know I can't allow this world to be further ripped apart. Either I kill him or you do."

"**Damn it, I won't let you die before my eyes a second time!" **

He stabbed his fingers through his hair.

"As always… you're stubborn, you haven't changed the slightest."

Hashirama grinned.

_She must be his… _

Kurama bristled at the presence of Diva being so close by.

_**Naruto! **_

"What's wrong Kurama?"

_**Stay away from that woman. She's not human, neither are the others. I can't sense if she'll pose a threat or not, but it's best if you kept your distance. **_ _**She's exceptionally strong. **_

"How can you tell? She doesn't look as though she could harm anyone. She regenerated my father's arm. That makes her a lifesaver in my book."

_**The fact she was even able to regenerate Minato's whole arm is a further example of the powers she possesses. Don't get me wrong, her strength is just what we need on the battlefield. But her chakra… it's just like Madara's. **_

Suddenly, Diva appeared in Naruto's subconscious. He and Kurama cried out at her presence as though she were a ghost.

"Would you relax?" she said almost impatiently.

"H-How did you get in…"

Her eyes were not blue anymore. They were crimson.

"She has the Sharingan!?" Naruto bellowed.

"Is that what it's called? I wouldn't have guess," she gritted out sarcastically hating this boy's reaction to every single thing.

Diva stared at Kurama. He ebbed exceedingly potent power. Then it was back to Naruto. Without breaking eye contact, she leaned forward. He backed up a few steps.

"You're kind of cute," she blurted.

"The hell?! This isn't time to be flirting, whoever you are!" Kurama boomed.

"I'm Diva," she said as nonchalantly as she could as though she were discussing the weather.

"I'm here to help defeat the enemy. Believing that or not is entirely up to you, Kurama. I only know your name because I overheard you two talking."

Outside, Diva looked for her sister and Haji. They weren't far, so she had nothing to worry about.

"Excuse me, Diva, right?"

She peered at Minato. She nodded.

"You can thank me for healing your arm later."

_There's something not right about that girl. Just what in the world is she? Her chakra… _

"Onigen, you're being stubborn."

"I'm stubborn? Well, I was married to you for a while, took some lessons from the master himself. I'm ready to die to take out a monster murdering good men."

With increasing irritation, he said, "Crossing swords. You losing…"

"We can keep this up Madara. You know from experience I can out-stubborn a mountain."

"Don't remind me…"

"Our daughters are out there…"

Madara looked at her.

"They're… _**alive**_?"

"Yes. You should be proud…"

"All these years… when you died… our children died with you. How is it…"

"A man named Joel purchased my mummified corpse and dissected my abdomen, at least according to our daughter. When this is all over we have a lot of explaining to do. At least… **you** do."

The day she died came back at him. He had been too late to save her from her sister and her sister's chevaliers.

_The sun barely set when he begun searching for his wife and brother; hoping against hope. Then he spied all that was left of his brother—black ash against glaringly white snow. Only his head, what remained of it, remained. He had been burned to death. With a chocked yell, he spotted Onigen's body. _

_Her arms were posed like she was protecting her young. She had been drained entirely of blood, but obviously she had put up a struggle. There were burn marks where they had attempted to turn her to ash just like his brother, yet they left her alone. _

_Taunting him. _

_He gritted his teeth, reaching out hand to touch her cold skin that had once been warm and kissed by the sun. No matter how much he wished that she would come back to him, he knew it was impossible. It was too late—had he'd been here earlier… _

_Cradling his wife into his arms, he kissed her forehead and touched her stomach where their unborn children still lay, gone now forever along with their mother. _

_It was then that Nathan stepped out, his eyes tearful. _

"_Please forgive me… no, that's a pitiful excuse. I couldn't save her. Her death is my doing." _

_Madara vanished in a flicker. He couldn't remember much else except for his own cries of anguish. _

"Onigen…"

"Please, do not apologize. My death was no one's fault. I wasn't afraid to die… because I was loved and adored by you. However, I wished I had lived long enough to see our family grow together. I wish I had stuck around longer for our daughters; maybe we wouldn't be in this mess now. Nathan told me… and I just want to let you know…"

She stepped out from her Susanoo to join him in his. She caressed his face, getting closer to him.

"_**I'll always love you… forever and always… my darling you'll be…" **_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven **

Kakashi Hatake sucked in a breath through his nose and tested the steadiness of his stomach. He didn't immediately suffer the urge to fall out, so he counted that as a victory.

His muscles protested when he moved from his crouched position. He frowned as he remembered his encounter with Obito. He pushed that to farther part of his brain and suddenly remembered Rin all over again. She was dead. She wasn't coming back.

Obito's love for Rin had twisted into something ugly; twisted, corrupt, and delusional.

It may not have been that way before she died but it has become such that it has poisoned his mind and corrupted his very being. Plus, it has led him to reject the same person he claimed to care for so deeply. Not to mention if Rin was revived, there would be no way she would support his views or reciprocate his love.

He felt a tap on his shoulder and faced a tall man with a muscular built, a long face with pronounced cheekbones; as well as a full goatee. His long, dull pink hair reaches his lower back and his were a forest green.

He wore a long, dark tattered cloak with boots. No one so far seemed to notice him but Kakashi. Of course not. There was a far more, deadly threat out there already.

"Who are you?" Kakashi demanded.

"A friend," he said simply, his mouth curving into a half-smile. He thrust Kakashi a small envelope.

Kakashi glanced down at the envelope but didn't immediately see any identifying information. He ripped at the seal. He dragged out a stack of papers varying in size and shape.

Just what exactly were these?

They were photos. Several in his hand, splayed as though they were an array of cards. When he picked one up, his heart stuttered and all the breath left his chest in a painful rush.

It was a photo of a woman, obviously a jounin like him. She was a slender, fairly tall, and fair-skinned kunoichi, yet curvaceous. She was wearing her proper shinobi attire which consisted of a black turtle neck top and a purple mesh top underneath, black pants with bandages around her right thigh and calves, grey shin guards, black gloves that stretched to the top of her biceps and black shinobi boots.

She looked serious and… ruthless. The way she held her katana and her body. But that wasn't it. That wasn't what blazed his mind like a buzz saw.

The woman looked remarkably like Rin. His former teammate. Rin was dead.

What kind of twisted joke was this?

Kakashi rifled through the pictures for something that made sense. Maybe some haha note from sick fuck looking for kicks.

When he came across the short handwritten note, he froze. All the blood left his face at the simple four words.

Your friend is alive.

It was a kick right to the groin. Rage surged through his veins like bubbling lava. He crumbled the note in his fist and threw it across the battlefield.

"Who the hell would pull a stunt like this and why?!" he barked, but that still didn't draw any attention to him and this mysterious man who literally appeared out of nowhere.

He snatched up the photo again and then another. He gathered them all, his hands shaking so bad the pictures scattered like a deck of cards.

Cursing, he got down on his knees to collect the photos from the ground.

Get a grip. She's dead. These photos are fake. There's just no way…

Even though he told himself it was some morbid prank, he couldn't control the rush of anger. Hope. Fear.

The pictures stared back at him, mocking him. They were Rin. All were Rin. Her hair reached past her waist and the purple rectangles on her cheeks were gone. Why?

Beautiful, yet her facial expression was neutral and her bright brown eyes now appeared dull, probably due to the traumatization and harshness of reality. But it was Rin. A face he was familiar with.

He forced himself to look away from the strong, beautiful woman in the picture because if he continued to stare and if he gave nay thought to it being Rin; he was going to vomit.

"Believing it or not is entirely up to you,'' said the man who had given him the envelope.

"How do you know her?" Kakashi growled.

"What's your relationship with her?"

"All in due time, Kakashi Hatake. All in due time. I haven't introduced myself… I am Tatsuya Sato. These photos here… well, I should have given to you sooner, but I kept at bay. These aren't even recent… they're just over a couple of months old."

"…."

"Would it just be better if I showed you proof?"

Proof? What the hell was he talking about?

Tatsuya grinned.

"The day she "died"… she had made sure you had pierced her heart, Kakashi. And for that moment when the blood spilled from her lips and she uttered your named as her last word…. You believed for her to have died, didn't you? At least until I got hold of her. It was then I switched out her body with another corpse in her likeness. "It was so believable, even that Uchiha boy fell for it. Perhaps I'm saying too much."

Kakashi balled his fist.

"You said you had proof, right?"

"Yes, indeed. "

Tatsuya looked behind him and gave a simple beckoning wave of his hand. Someone was coming. She moved like a predator with such ease that it seemed so unnatural.

When she was finally up close, Kakashi's jaw dropped. She smiled at him slightly, pushing back a loose strand of her hair and tucking it behind her ear. She was wearing the same outfit in the photo and the same sword was holstered on her hip.

He looked back at her and started for her.

"R-Rin…?"

She almost laughed.

"Kakashi… it's been a while."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight **

Onigen nuzzled her forehead against Madara's. He kissed the palm of her hands, trying to suppress his tears.

"I think we can save this for later, Madara. Right now, our daughters are…"

"Yes. Are you sure they're even trained…"

"Yes. We must have faith in them. They are _**our **_children. I still can't believe it… a fourth war. So many lives already lost because of it. It's hard enough our kind were used as war weapons as well. Do you really wish to contribute to the cause?"

Madara paused.

"I still can't believe our daughters will have a part in the fourth war. But as you've said, they're our children so I expect nothing less of them."

"Diva, come here so I can give you my chakra!"

Diva raised an eyebrow. "Chakra? I'm fine, Naruto-kun. You don't have to protect me… it's time I've stood on my own two feet without the aid of someone else."

Nathan smiled silently from afar.

_My little Diva's growing up. Take that Amshel… it seems as though she'd gotten rid of your mind control. _

"Nathan… any ideas?" she turned to him, hopeful.

"My suggestion would not to use too much chakra so soon. So, it's best if you do get some of Naruto's power dear. Though you are a Queen even they have their limits. However, since you're the daughter of a prodigy what you want to do is entirely your decision. From now, _you _lead."

Diva's hair whipped back and forth from the invisible winds of her chakra. Stunned, she was mesmerized by the forming of a ribcage around her that quickly turned into a body.

_Is this… what I think it is? _

Sasuke clenched his fists.

_There's no way she could have a Susanoo!? She's a female… how is this possible unless she's… no… _

"_**I'll be damned… she is really is that man's brat..." **_grumbled Kurama.

Madara wished his wife and daughters were anywhere but here. He caught the change of a chakra, and saw Diva's Susanoo forming before his eyes. Pride swelled in his chest because she was his daughter and he could feel the waves of strength coming off of her.

Diva closed her eyes, allowing herself to be swallowed by the gigantic blue-grey humanoid being. Above her she could make out the feminine face of her Susanoo.

_This power… overwhelming… I've never felt anything like it before… I feel as though my skin is humming for the first time in years. I wonder what else I'm capable of._

Diva listened to everyone around her, the racing heartbeats and their chakra. Then she became incredulous at the presence of another energy source. There were more chiropterans here besides herself, Nathan, her daughters, her sister, her sister's chevalier, and parents.

_I wonder who the other chiroptera are? _

Something felt wrong here.

"Hinata-san?"

Hinata blinked, turning to Sakura. "Hn?"

"You looked troubled." Sakura admonished, smiling at her. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Those women out there… they're sisters… I think, but I have a feeling that only two of them are sisters because this third one feels… I don't know."

Hinata activated her eye jutsu, giving a small gasp.

"Those women have the Sharingan?"

"Are you sure?!"

"Yes… and… there's something else. They're chakra signatures… don't feel **human**."

"And you said they're all sisters?"

"I think so…

Saya witnessed the Ten-Tails emerging.

"What is that thing…?"

She noticed it only had one eye, its mouth, ear, and ear horribly out of proportion.

"Some kind of beast… a monstrosity of nature?"

The air buzzed with an eerie, airy melody. Saya thought this was Diva's song at first, but this made the skin on her body hum. This voice belonged to her mother. It was somewhat deeper and much richer than Diva's own voice. Plus, it sounded… _cold; melancholy; yet still beautiful. _

_**That song?! **_ Sai gripped his arm and bit down on his emerging canines. He started to break out in a cold sweat, but it wasn't as if he could just cover his ears and ignore the song.

_What kind of song is this? _Sakura thought, deeply mesmerized, as were all of the members of the Shinobi alliance.

"Kurama? Do you hear that?"

"Yeah…" he said in a distant tone, not really paying attention.

"Are you even listening to me? You look like you're under a spell!"

The ground underneath their feet vibrated. The Ten-Tails searched for the source of the song, and in the most ominous way seemed to be tamed by the classical song coming from Onigen's mouth.

Next, the beast struggled with the compulsion of the luring song as well as orders from its host.

It gave a cry of a banshee; aiming it towards the sky. But Onigen's song only increased.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine **

_What is that thing?! _Diva thought, finding herself rooted to the spot where she stood as she watched the Ten-Tails emerge, no longer transfixed by her mother's voice. She felt the skin on her body chill because she could see the chakra around it coming off in waves and waves of blackness. It was as though she had snakes all over her body and wished to peel off her skin and wash it.

The beast was transforming again, she guessed just by witnessing it. The barrier had bubbled down and disappeared.

_What am I supposed to do now? I don't think I can move. I'm frozen… what do I…? _

Diva leaped away from the giant, branch tree-limbs that squirmed like tentacles. More of them were coming at her. She wished she hadn't deactivated her Susanoo just earlier. A strong, masculine arm wrapped around her waist and secured her to them. She looked up and smiled at Nathan.

He winked at her, avoiding the tentacle-like branches that slithered towards her.

"Why are they coming after me?" she asked.

"Because you have more chakra, dear. Since you are a chiropteran. Chiropterans have the same mass of foul chakra as tailed beasts; though yours may even be more potent."

"I see… oh, no… Naruto!"

The ginormous branch erupted from the ground and split into many more limbs; trapping and immobilizing others. In horror, Diva watched one male shinobi have his entire life force sucked out of them. He was entirely emaciated, his eyes hollowed in; his entire appearance gaunt. Usually she wouldn't care for the lives of humans. However, she felt a wave of pang at the innocent lives being taken right before her eyes. She gritted her teeth.

_I finally understand… Saya… _

Diva listened to the screams, cries, and moans as the chakra was zapped from the survivors. Nathan still had his grasp on her, dodging and twisting his body, making lithe movements and incredible jumps.

"Madara, it's the Shinju!" Onigen cried. He tucked her beside him and jumped.

"What is this thing?" Hashirama gritted.

"Chakra originally belonged to the Shinju. All the chakra here… even that enormous chakra of yours!" said Madara.

Hashirama dodged an oncoming tentacle-limb extension, just barely missing his head.

"With enough time, history slowly becomes clouded by fog… do you even know how shinobi came to be, Hashirama?"

"Madara…" Onigen warned but he ignored her.

Hashirama stared at him, puzzled. Madara continued to explain, high-jumping with Onigen still with him.

"Even before man had even learned the concept of chakra… they had already been waging war against one another. The Shinju was not affected by this. And had been worshipped as a host of God. One day, a fruit that only grows once every millennium was born unto that tree. No one had been told the reasons behind it… but were specifically instructed to never lay so much as a single finger on that fruit."

He paused.

"But with so many conflicts up in the air, there was a princess who decided it'd be in everyone's best interest if someone attained a God-like power, so she went ahead and consumed the fruit. Her name… was Ootsutsuki Kaguya. When it was all said and done… Kaguya now had the power of God. She single-handedly ended all the conflicts. A child bore from her, also had that power from birth. "However, the Shinju hell-bent on getting its' chakra back, went berserk. Thus became the Juubi. The person, who tamed it, was the son of Kaguya. His name… was Ootsutsuki Bagoromo… the founding father of all shinobi and the man that, in effect, taught us all chakra… **the one otherwise known as… The ** **Sage of Six Paths**."

Onigen braced herself against her husband, when he landed idly on his feet.

"How did you come to know all this…?!" asked Hashirama, stunned at this profound knowledge.

"It's written on the stone tablets of the Uchiha… man tried to stop war by getting their hands on the fruit… I don't need to explain to you how that worked out, do I?"

Hashirama frowned, eyeing Madara, then his wife Onigen. They bounded upward once again. Madara continued darkly,

"Indeed… nothing changed… in fact one could argue that it only made things worse! I fell into utter despair after learning this truth… in this world, a _'true' _dream is nothing more than an illusion Hashirama!"

Onigen stared at nothing, saddened by her husband's words.

"Once man decided to consume that fruit, they became cursed… we were destined to spiral down this path of perpetual and endless tragedy! They became cursed… shinobi are simply living proof and reminders of our ignorance back then!"

"If that is our fate, then… that genjutsu using the Shinju will…"

_You still can't see it, can you… the dreams of the future. _

Madara's words from all those years ago came back to haunt him.

"… well, my definition of it probably differs slightly from yours…"

There in the midnight sky under the moon's gaze stood a magnificent stalk of great height bearing a flower that had yet to blood with large leaves.

"When the Shinju finally blooms, the eye in the flower will be reflected by the moon, at that very moment, the infinite Tsukiyomi will be complete, and… the one to accomplish that… will have been me," said Madara, his eyes growing hooded, his Rinnegan glowing an eerie purple.

"_**Uwah!" **_

"_**Naruto!" **_

Nathan released Diva. Those mighty limbs were practically swallowing him. His father cried out in alarm. Down below, she met a man with striking white hair as he released a water jutsu that cut through the wood limbs. Much to her dismay, they grew back.

Just as Naruto was to be consumed entirely, Diva and Saya cut the attachments with their bare hands, not caring that their skin was dyed bloody red. Diva turned to see an old man behind her dressed in dark attire and head gear. Diva grabbed Naruto by the shirt front and hauled him to her.

Naruto's eyes, barely focused, went to their faces.

_Old… man… Diva… _

"Being punctual was never my strong suit," he stated.

Diva, reading his mind, noted that his name was Hiruzen Sarutobi. He had been the Third Hokage before his death.

At the same time she and Tobirama shouted his name: _**"Saru!" **_

Diva carried Naruto with her sister, Haji, and Sarutobi behind her.

"We have to get out of here!" she said, bearing Naruto's weight with all her strength.

"Have things settled down a bit?"

Diva shared a look with Sasuke, and then unlocked her eyes from his. She felt Naruto's boiling anger overtaking her. The bodies of the shinobi scattered and limp as rag dolls, horribly thin and dead. Practically mummified.

"It's no good… we're doomed…"

Sakura could barely move. Her eyes hovered, then closed.

Obito held out an arm, his tone cold and echoing.

"Just lay there quietly… _**your suffering will soon come to an end…"**_

Diva's eyes fleeted over the enormous stalk bearing the blossom that would end them all. If there were only something she could do. But exactly was that? She was so used to having things done for her. Now, her heart cried out for these humans who were now all laid wasted on the battlefield with no chakra. Even Naruto's own had been depleted tremendously.

Instead of crying, she opened her mouth and sang, for all things lost.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten **

She walked forward; much to the surprise of Tatsuya and Kakashi, she sprint into a full run. She ignored the calls from behind her, her eyes focused above. She knew as a medic-nin that she wasn't supposed to be on the front lines, risk being wounded or dead.

Maybe she should have waited much later where he was on the ground, instead of the high in the sky. Maybe she should have stayed behind, but she couldn't. This was an important confrontation.

Rin arrived just in time.

She caught someone's eye, Sasuke Uchiha.

Who is she? Sasuke thought, frowning at the brunette.

She smiled faintly, the smile vanished just as fast. To her shock she saw her sensei, Edo Tensei, alongside his son. His arm was gone. Wasn't it suppose to regenerate by now? Unless...

"Rin?!" exclaimed Minato.

"Dad, you know her?"

…

…

…

"She was an old student of mine. She's suppose to be dead..."

Rin cast a sideways glance at them all, her expression serious. They were all probably thinking she was a fool for this course of action.

"Guys, I know it wasn't smart of me to march up here like this, I'm a fool for doing so... but honestly, I don't care what any of you think of me," she deadpanned.

Silence.

"Sensei... I have to do this. Trust me."

"Rin... I—I ..."

She cried: "Obito!"

Her voice seemed to do something.

Obito glared below him at the female body. Upon further inspection, she wasn't just another woman. Her face... her voice... it couldn't be. This was some sick joke. But his eyes couldn't deceive what his heart believed to be true, even if his brain wouldn't.

"R-Rin?"

"Obito!" she cried again.

Foolish woman... just what the hell is she thinking this will do? The Second Hokage thought miserably.

"Rin, get out of the way!"

In happened in a flash. You see the events in pictures. Obito in front of Rin, Rin backing away slightly obviously frightened by his appearance. And then she was on the ground, knocked unconscious; a gaping wound in her back.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven **

Rin lay sprawled with a gaping wound in her back. However, much to Obito's surprise the wound healed in a matter of seconds, leaving behind a very faint pink scar that would eventually fade away in time. She hadn't even cried out once when he had struck her, instead she pulled herself on both legs. She didn't stagger, she was in total control of her body.

Obito almost faltered. Her healing abilities weren't the only thing that had advanced over the years.

It was her. He remembered the laughter, the smiles the two of them had shared together. No. No fucking way. He wouldn't allow himself the small glimmer of hope that was battling its way through years of grief. This shit didn't happen in real life. People didn't get handed second chances on a damn platter.

He'd prayed for a miracle more times than he cared to admit, but his prayers had gone unanswered. Or had they?

"You're losing it," he muttered.

This woman who remarkably resembles Rin, albeit with no purple rectangles on her cheeks, was staring down at him.

He rubbed his hands over his face and then over the back of his neck. Then he stared down at Rin. He wanted to believe it. He'd be just the sort of dumb ass who'd give this any credibility. But this wasn't genjutsu, no one was that good. He remembered standing over her, pressing his fingers against her neck, pressing against slippery cold skin, where her heart should have been. Where her pulse should have been. She had been covered in blood.

_Rin was gone. _

_Rin was dead. _

_She wasn't coming home. _

_Rin... _

….

…

…

Her name floated insidiously through his mind.

It looked like her. Made sense it could be her. He hadn't stayed behind long enough to see her body being shipped back. He was getting carried away. There had to be some other explanation. Someone was messing with him. He didn't know why. He didn't care. He curled his lips in disgust. This was probably all Kakashi's doing.

Obito scanned her face, her beautiful face, gorgeous brown eyes, her hair which had grown so much longer and her body with definite curves. He hated the hope that sprung to life within him. His heart thumped like a jack hammer inside hie chest. His pulse raced so fast that he felt light-headed, almost like the night he came across her lifeless form.

Was this what it felt like at the end of the road? Was all that was left was for him to start barking at the moon? The thought took him by the throat. It had teeth. It wouldn't let go.

"Rin.."

Her eyes became wide, taking in his drastic appearance.

"It is you... isn't it, Obito?"

…

…

…

Rin crumbled, her eyes filling with tears. Harsh, ragged sobs came deep from her chest and shook her entire body as they spilled from her lips.

"It is you! Why... why, Obito? I thought you were dead all these years... you've become..."

"I haven't changed... Rin—I ..."

"Yes, you have... I don't..."

"No," she said in an even voice.

He scowled. "You don't know what happened after your ' died ' Rin. A lot has changed. I have changed. "

"Obito..."

He clenched his teeth.

"You weren't even dead, were you?" he whispered. Then louder.

_**"After all those years of mourning you! You come back from the damn dead, and now you're telling me that I've changed?! You're the one who chose to die at the hands of the man you loved after being forced becoming the host of the Three-Tails! Don't act as though you're feelings are hurt, because let me tell you something you have a perverse way of looking at what's right and wrong! **_

_**"You were dead! Dead, never coming back. And I blamed Kakashi, whom I trusted to protect you with his life and you took that away by taking your own, all for the sake of your precious village! Don't try and change me now... it's too late." **_

It was her turn now.

_**"I thought you of all people would understand! They were going to destroy Konoha! I couldn't let them use me like that! What happened to you? The boy who took pride in his clan and wanted to become Hokage!? What do you plan on achieving by doing this?" **_

…

…

…

"Is that all you have to say? Is that how you feel, Obito?"

She was startled by his low chuckle.

"I plan on creating a world where you never would have died in the first place... as far as I'm concerned, you're not even her. This world is nothing but an illusion filled with false hopes and dreams. There's only what you give the world and what the world takes from you."

"Obito..."

He paused.

"Will you at least let me explain...? Please? Do you think had I not been an unwilling host I would have killed myself? I was caught in the in-between... you're telling me you wouldn't have done the same thing? The old you... I can't even compare anymore. You're a stranger."

"**And you're an imposter**," he mustered all the venom and cold into those words. Rin swiftly dodged another blow, leaping backwards far away from him.

_I couldn't get through to him... Obito... _

"Rin!"

It was Kakashi. If she didn't get away, Obito might kill her. He would and wouldn't feel the least guilty. In his eyes she was already dead. Even when she thought she had seen a flicker of recognition in his eyes, it had disappeared.

Rin stared back at her teacher and his son. She mouthed two words. _**I'm sorry. **_

_Who is that woman? _Diva thought.

Rin gazed back at the bodies over the battlefield and the formidable height of the Shinju blossom. This was truly… _**hell. **_


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve **

Saya stared at the bodies on the battlefield and was reminded immediately of the massacre Diva had caused when she was freed from her tower all those years ago. Haji stood beside her, calm and stoic as usual. Nathan was nowhere to be seen, yet he had to be not far from Onigen and Madara.

"So, who might you be?"

Saya glimpsed at a young man with pale skin, ink black hair and eyes donning the uniform of the shinobi alliance. But there was something else about him.

_He feels like a Chevalier… but his chakra is similar to that of my father's. I wonder..._

"I am Saya… whom might you be?"

"Sai. If you don't mind my knowing… you and that girl, you're twins aren't you?"

Saya nodded.

"I am the oldest, a man named Joel having opened the cocoon encasing me before that of my sister. He named me Saya and raised me as his own daughter. However, my sister - Diva – was left to hatch naturally, and when she did she was sealed away in a tower and experimented on."

Saya waited a moment before continuing.

"The day I became aware of Diva's existence, I gave her the name Diva because she had a beautiful voice. She truly sounded like an angel, and I wanted to get to know her. One day, I let her out of the cell where she was kept and left to collect flowers for Joel. When I returned, it was to find my home in flames and Diva standing over the body of the man who'd raised me. She'd killed almost everyone in the house.

"After that day, I decided that I would pursue Diva to the ends of the earth and kill her, then kill myself. I felt we were unnatural beings that did not belong in this world and should no longer exist. That war between her and I lasted for almost a hundred years. In the final battle, we dealt each other blows with swords soaked in our own blood. However, we ended up here… it doesn't make a whole lot of sense… but…"

Saya remained silent. She had not time to tell this young man about the history of Chiropterans.

She learned long ago that she needed to require a solid grasp of reality, a capacity for clear reasoning. Now, here she stood facing the enemy and the giant and tall stalk of a flower that would soon end them all.

Diva let go of Naruto and stared.

"What are you looking like that for?" she snapped, drawing his attention; their shades of blue eyes lining up.

"Don't just sit here and let this guy win. Are you really going to give him the satisfaction that he has won over us? I didn't come here to lose, Uzumaki Naruto. I came here to win, there are people whom I hold precious to me… and I know you feel the same way as well."

"Diva…"

"You probably have sensed it by now… I am not human… and this is true. However, I am also here to help you, everyone. I have not been here long and already you humans have fascinated me because of your never ending resolve to keep fighting and fighting. I feel your despair now because of the lives lost lives…

"But you're ruining their memory by not doing a thing about it… don't you see? Please, for all of the fallen who still wish they had a chance. Naruto… _**please fight**_."

Diva hid the sheen of tears, hoping that he had not seen them. Blinking through her teary vision, she gently touched Naruto's cheek.

"I believe in you…"

She kissed his forehead, which completely caught him off-guard. She felt the heat of his skin on her lips and her lips lingered a little while longer than they should have. She teleported from his view and made an appearance beside a young woman with blonde hair in a ponytail.

Reading her mind, Diva found out her name was Ino. There lay a young man in her arms with a rather dire outlook. His cheeks were sunken in and he could barely keep his eyes open. Saya was hovering over the boy.

The sisters nodded in unison. Saya placed her hands on the boy's chest, her palms glowing an orange red, spreading warmth throughout the young man's body before encasing him in a cocoon of chakra.

"What are you?" Hashirama murmured, challenging Madara.

"Just what in the world are you if you've been able to live so long? I think it's all making sense to me."

"There are countless myths that can be explained if one replaces the legendary figure with a chiropteran. So unfortunately, there is no true telling how long they have been around…"

"Yet."

"Chiropterans have been gods, emperors, warriors and undoubtedly behind the scenes. Take the Egyptian god Osiris. He was said to have died and then return to life by a ritual that Isis performed. It is easy to think that he was some chiropteran who suffered a fatal wound, disappeared to recover, and then returned."

"So, your kind have been around so long… that nothing has been able to kill them?"

"Except each other," said Onigen. Her voice made the men aware that she was still present.

"We're no better than humans… we kill each other to kill each other. It's been that way since the First Queens were discovered. All I ever wanted was for that curse to be broken. Diva's children could be the key to the dream I'd envisioned and shared with Madara all those years ago.

"But now we have a war… and soon we shall drown in our own blood. That can be prevented just so long as we keep fighting."

"Hey, wake up sleepy head."

Nathan nudged Kai's sleeping form. Kai's eyes cracked open, then widened. He sat up as fast as a jackknife, taking in detail of his surroundings. Just where the hell was he and how did he end up here?

He turned to Nathan and frowned.

"You…"

"I'm not here to fight with you. I have no desire."

"Where the hell is Saya? Did she kill Diva?"

"Both are very much alive, just to fill you in. Diva is no longer your enemy. You should be paying attention to the man there…"

Kai glimpsed at an eerie-looking man colored silver with freaky eyes. Next was the tall stalk with the flower that would soon blossom. Kai fumbled for his weapon, only to discover that it was no longer on his person.

Nathan stood, eyes glowing.

"It will take more than a gun to kill him. Oh, did I mention that those weapons don't exist in this world?"

Kakashi held Rin to his chest. He heard her murmur as though she were sleeping. She peeled one eye open, then closed again as she dreaded the sight of Obito. She curled her fists in anger and cried silently into Kakashi's chest.


End file.
